


With All These Things We Invoke Here

by DoubleMastectomy



Category: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22763530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleMastectomy/pseuds/DoubleMastectomy
Summary: A routine mission in Zone Two goes badly, forcing Val and Vinyl to reconsider the nature of their relationship.
Relationships: Val Velocity/Vinyl
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	With All These Things We Invoke Here

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place just a little bit before the comics, hence Val's a little meaner in this one than in my last fic. The title is taken from a Danzig song (I Don't Mind the Pain) and this is based on some prompts I got on tumblr and also on some inspiration I got through a discord chat, and I wrote this instead of studying for a final. Hope you enjoy it!

Val Velocity shoots one of the Dracs square in the chest, “Ha!” He stands tall one leg propped up on the rock in front of him, the heel of his boot digging into the stone, his free hand casually hitched into a belt loop on his hip.  
  
Vinyl is covering him from behind trying to get the other drac down. They’d been out looting Zone Two when they’d accidentally walked right into a patrol, only a pair of draculoids but it had taken them by surprise.  
  
As Val adjusts his grip on his ray gun ready to knock down the second drac, Vinyl hits it, smirking.  
  
“Nice one!” Val applauds relaxing his posture, “Wish Vaya and Vamos were here they would’ve loved that shi-” another ray gun goes off, an electric popping sound, Vinyl recoils with a grunt and falls.  
  
_Shit!_ Val whips around, two hands on his gun outstretched. Through its sights he erratically, frantically, searches around for any glimpse of movement in the bleached scenery. A cloud of dust settles on the dry earth, near a yellowed patch of bushy grasses, a white pale mask is watching them from the top of a hill, empty sockets for eyes and a gun it’s stiffly pointing at Val now. Val flinches on his trigger. The drac falls.  
  
Shoulders tense, he freezes. Scanning around himself with his eyes looking for any other dracs he’d missed. _How’d I miss that one_ , he chastises himself, _Some fucking leader you are, asshole_. A light breeze sighs over the landscape, flat rolling hills drab and brown with only patchy vegetation. No other breathing creatures in sight.  
  
Resigning himself to the fact that the coast is genuinely clear now, Val turns to Vinyl and drops to his knees.  
  
Vinyl’s awake and breathing.  
  
He’s on his back holding onto his left shoulder, tightly, looking down at it grimacing.  
  
“Can I see it?” Val asks as softly as he can, suppressing his alarm. Vinyl looks up at him through his stringy bangs and removes his hand from the wound. Val cradles his shoulder.  
  
The laser had shot straight into his deltoid, there wasn’t much for blood just a charred cauterized puncture. Vinyl winces as Val turns his arm over to check the exit wound. “Didn’t hit anything important,” he mumbles through his teeth, “No arteries or anything of course, you’ll be fine you big baby.”  
  
Vinyl jabs him in the arm.  
  
“Hey! Sorry!” He looks at Vinyl’s face, both of them observing each other offended but fond. Val pulls his focus away. “No time to hang, do y’think you can stand?”  
  
Vinyl nods unconfidently.  
  
“Alright then.” Val holds Vinyl’s right hand securely, and with his free arm pushes up against his back to lift him. Vinyl’s face screws up from the pain of movement while Val strains to lift his weight.  
  
With Vinyl back on his feet, Val reaches up and wipes away the collecting tears from his bottom lid with his thumb. “You’ll be alright man,” he coos.  
  
Val begins to pull his hand away, but Vinyl quickly cradles it with his own hand and presses Val’s palm firmly against his cheek, closing his eyes serenely leaning into it and taking a moment to gather himself.  
  
“Hm,” Val breathes. Gently rotating his hand, he lays his thumb on top of Vinyl’s lips. Flustered, Val closes his eyes too letting himself just feel the other man’s rough skin against his own. He feels Vinyl’s warm breath skim along the tops of their hands and he begins to gently rub his thumb against Vinyl’s lips in a small circle, slowly.  
  
It takes Val all his effort just to let himself tear his hand away again.  
  
“What the hell was that for,” Val quietly scolds as if it weren’t both of them who’d pushed past their usual boundaries.  
  
Vinyl looks away once again holding onto his injured arm, nervously, an apology reluctantly forming on his tired lips.  
  
“Well don’t apologize for shit,” Val steps closer to him, the tops of his wrists sitting on his hips. “I’m just saying I’m not your fuck.”  
  
Vinyl creases his eyebrows questioningly but smiles at Val, amused.  
  
“Hey! Wait! That’s not a fuckin joke, motorbaby,” Val roughly grabs Vinyl’s bad arm, and with his thumb he digs into the open wound hard.  
  
“Hey!” Vinyl yelps out hoarse and blushing.  
  
“Oh fuck you, don’t tell me that- oh fuck you, man.” Val bitterly drops his arm.  
  
Val turns away, biting his lip restlessly. He glances back to see Vinyl looking at him with big eyes inquisitively, waiting for him to make the next move. The abrasive sun beats down on their shoulders making Val squint.  
  
Without the sensation of touch, Val’s chest starts to ache. The short distance between them feels painful and searing. He steps closer again, “Alright Vi, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. My bad, alright?” He pauses to huff dismissively. “Look. Can I-? This doesn’t mean anything but, I-”  
  
Vinyl wraps his good arm around Val’s waist and pulls him closer, tighter, against his firm chest. He smirks down at Val, his eyes smiling warmly.  
  
Val reminds himself to exhale. His eyes wander to Vinyl’s square jaw, his soft cheeks, his lips. Val leans in and kisses him, eyes shut tight. Instantly he’s incapable of pulling away as if he were caught in a wire snare. Vinyl slides his hand under Val’s tight shirt and grazes it up his bare back. “Fuck,” Val gasps at the sensation before pressing against Vinyl’s lips once more, sliding his tongue into his mouth, desperate to be even closer, Vinyl inaudibly sighs, kissing harder in return and grasping at Val’s back, massaging into his thin spine. They hold each other tighter. Val runs his hands through Vinyl’s hair.  
  
“Fuck,” Val mutters again pulling his face away to look into Vinyl’s bright dark eyes, “Fuck I thought you were dead,” he laughs at himself, overwrought, “I thought you’d been killed just then, I thought you were gone, goddamn it.” He tries to stifle his own laughter  
  
With concern on his face, Vinyl shakes his head no, a promise.  
  
“Vinyl…” Val strokes at the back of Vinyl’s head, feeling his hair between his fingers he pleads, “Vinyl, Vinyl, don’t ever ditch me.” he presses his forehead into Vinyl's brawny chest hiding his dumb smile, “Vinyl, I couldn’t take it if you were buried.”  
  
By the time they make it back to the Nest the powdery blue sky has shifted into a pale pink, the clouds passing overhead turn a lavender. The coarse dirt crunches beneath their noisy uniform footsteps as they walk up to their worn home, briskly, blushing. Most of the killjoys they live with don’t take any notice as they walk into the messy living room together and sit down with a distinct platonic distance between them. But Vamos leans over the back of the musty couch, their face right next to Val’s, and asks smiling, “So where have you two been?”  
  
Val ignores the implications and responds brightly, “Vamos! I was just 'bout to go looking for you. Could you do me a solid and fetch some bandages for Vinyl’s arm?”  
  
“Vinyl’s arm?” Vamos shifts their weight to get a better look at it, “Oh sick, that scar’s gonna be tough as fuck. Wait til Volume hears about this!”  
  
“Vamos, please,” Val grumbles.  
  
“Alright, alright,” they sigh, “Hey Vaya! Come chaperone these lovebirds for me.”  
  
Val nearly chokes from surprise. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Vinyl burying his face in his hands from embarrassment.  
  
“Oh come on Val,” Vaya snickers grinning, “We saw you two come in here red as Vinyl’s jumpsuit, you’ve obviously been up to some sorta mischief.”  
  
“Oh piss off, you fuckin dumbasses don’t know anything,” Val stands up heated, tugging on the strap of his mask a bit to ground himself. Vamos is back now, giggling and holding onto a roll of bandages. Val snatches it from their hands and stuffs it into his jacket pocket. He tugs Vinyl off the couch, and then drags him out of the Nest.  
  
“Ugh I fucking hate them!” Val yells kicking at the rutted ground outside the front door. “Look. Vinyl do you think you can make it up the ladder to the roof right now? I’ll be right behind you if you slip.”  
  
Vinyl nods shyly.  
  
Val smirks at him, silently pleading that he doesn’t actually fall, knowing he wouldn’t have the strength to catch him like that.  
  
They climb up the rusted metal ladder hooked to the side of the Nest, carefully and slowly. When Vinyl looks unsteady on his weak arm, Val places a hand up against his thigh reassuringly. They make it up safely.  
  
The pair both breathe a sigh of relief and sit down on the hard concrete, just the two of them.  
  
“Fuckin hell man,” Val complains.  
  
The sun’s set, the sky turning into a deep gray color, a handful of stars peeking through. On the horizon is a faint white glow from the distant Battery City, like chemical radiation. Val holds his hand out to his side and Vinyl places his injured arm onto his upturned palm.  
  
Val turns toward him. Kneeling next to Vinyl, he pulls himself closer while steadily grasping his upper arm. Lightly he scrapes some dirt from the wound with a fingernail, lamenting the lack of proper first aid out here. He then slides the bandages out of his pocket, unrolls a long strip, and tears it off with his teeth. He starts gently wrapping the wound.  
  
“I’m sorry, again, about earlier.” The cold night air blows against his back frigid.  
  
Vinyl caresses his jawline.  
  
“Please… don’t...,” Val sighs, refusing to look up from his work. Vinyl pulls his hand away respectfully as Val continues to hold onto his injured arm, still tying the bandage around it. “Vinyl…” He can’t find the words. Val just shakes his head to himself as he finishes the job.  
  
“Here,” Val releases Vinyl and turns away. He stretches his legs out in front of himself and leans back on his arms, looking up at the sky as more and more stars emerge in the pearly black atmosphere. Space around them cocooning their little world, holding them safe even if for just one night more. The wind picks up again, sending a chill through his bones.  
  
Val then notices Vinyl to his right shivering. “How’re you still so cold with all that muscle.”  
  
Vinyl shrugs passively.  
  
“Well… whatever.” Val shifts one arm out of his jacket and stretches the garment around Vinyl, drifting closer to him in the process, his jacket hardly fitting both their shoulder spans without the two of them overlapping. It’s hardly warm this way, let alone comfortable. Val leans in closer trying to get this to work, “Dammit.”  
  
Impulsively to save face for this attempt of a tender gesture, Val begrudgingly lays down across Vinyl’s crossed legs, letting Vinyl have the bulk of the jacket and just letting the larger man's body shield him from the freezing air.  
  
“This still means nothing,” Val proclaims, but nervously adds on “this is ok, right?”  
  
Vinyl rests a hand on Val’s shoulder and gently rubs it.  
  
“Hm,” Val rests his eyes. He feels Vinyl’s chest rise and fall against his back, a calming repetitive pressure, an assurance that they’re both still alive. With the stars above them as their only witness Val drifts to sleep up against Vinyl’s warm embrace.


End file.
